Porous solids with tailored pore characteristics have attracted considerable attention because of their novel optical, catalytic, sensing, and electrochemical properties. Exemplary solids having a periodic pore structure include photonic crystals and photonic bandgap materials, while separation membranes, mesoporous molecular sieves, and three-dimensionally (3D) porous metals may or may not require a periodic pore structure. Porous metals in particular are widely used in energy conversion or storage devices, as filters, as catalyst supports, as electromagnetic wave absorbers, and as biomedical scaffold materials.
Metallic photonic crystals, metal based structures with periodicities on the scale of the wavelength of light, are of commercial interest due to the potential for new properties, including the possibility of a complete photonic band gap with reduced structural constraints compared to purely dielectric photonic crystals, unique optical absorption and thermally stimulated emission behavior, and interesting plasmonic physics. Photonic band gap materials exhibit a photonic band gap, analogous to a semiconductor's electronic band gap, that suppresses propagation of certain frequencies of light, thereby offering photon localization or inhibition of spontaneous emissions. Such materials are described in Braun et al., “Variably Porous Structures,” U.S. Patent Application Publication 2008/0246580, and in Braun et al., “Porous Battery Electrode for a Rechargeable Battery and Method of Making the Electrode,” U.S. Patent Application Publication 2010/0068623, which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
Cantilever probes are employed in atomic force microscopy (AFM), infrared (IR) spectroscopy, and other sensing methods for surface characterization and spectroscopic studies. In many such techniques, attaining a higher signal-to-noise ratio is an ongoing goal. Microcantilevers are also used as actuators, switches, resonators, filters, force sensors, and displacement sensors in applications including telecommunications, timekeeping, navigation, and precision measurements. As a result, researchers have been developing new dimensions and shapes for cantilever probes in an effort to optimize the properties and performance of the devices. The inventors have recognized that a new approach to the design and fabrication of such micromechanical devices is needed.